Chef Duncan Welgemoed has spent years pushing carp onto the plates of diners, but now he wants people to put it on their face.
The owner of Adelaide restaurant Africola said encouraging Australians to eat the pest had been tough, but its versatility made it ideal for a range of products, including collagen.
From topical creams to collagen gummies and collagen coffee, the availability of products containing this supplement has exploded in recent times.
The collagen market is predicted to grow by $US5-8 billion within the next five years, according to Swinburne University.
“In South-East Asia, the collagen extraction and skin care product [industry] is pretty big, as well as carp leather, which is a massive industry,” Mr Welgemoed said.
“If it’s for vanity, at least you’re giving back to nature by helping eradicate these fish that are destroying our waterways. So, it’s good karma.”
Mr Welgemoed (right) actively promotes eating carp but now wants to also see it used for health and beauty products. (Supplied: Jacob Jennings Photography)
Mr Welgemoed conceded utilising carp for the cosmetic and health industries would require significant investment from governments and private companies, but there were clear economic and environmental benefits.
The federal government has spent more than $15 million on a plan to control carp, and more research is underway to explore the effects of releasing a herpes virus on other fish species.
“Instead of thinking about how we can kill the fish, from an ecological point of view, we can look at how to get them out of the water and make money,” he said.
“We need to get as much carp out of the Murray [River] as possible, and we’re presented with all these awesome solutions that can create industry, create jobs and minimise the impact [of the invasive species].”
Carp make up about 90 per cent of the biomass in the Murray-Darling Basin. (ABC Riverland: Anita Ward)
Why fish collagen?
Katrina Armstrong has seen a rapid growth in demand for her collagen products since launching her business Thankfully Nourished in 2007.
Her company sells collagen products derived from cows and fish.
Ms Armstrong says customers buying her collagen products were particularly interested in its anti-ageing properties. (Supplied: Thankfully Nourished)
Ms Armstrong said while her marine collagen was from wild Australian-caught snapper, she believed sourcing collagen from carp could be well received.
“I think that people would be behind the idea because there’s growing environmental awareness and wanting to source products that are sustainable,” she said.
The challenges, she said, included that marine collagen was white and tasteless, while collagen extracted from carp overseas was usually yellow in colour, with a stronger flavour.
“The only way to overcome that to make it a better tasting product would be to use chemicals, which is not what the consumer wants,” she said.
“This lower-grade collagen might be better used in pet food products or in snack bars.”
Marine collagen is produced in Australia but collagen from carp is imported from overseas. (Supplied: Thankfully Nourished)
Scalable opportunity
Swinburne University research from July showed seafood processing generated up to 90,000 tonnes of waste — including heads, tails, guts, skin and scales — annually in Australia.
Lead researcher Nisa Salim said the university had partnered with the End Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre to explore the potential of turning these by-products into consumer products, like collagen.
“We have a clear plan for demonstrating our product, starting with feasibility trials and testing, small-scale production and scaling up as demand grows,” Dr Salim said.
“We have also identified potential markets and customers for our product, including major food and cosmetic companies.”
While Swinburne has more recently turned a keen eye toward the marine collagen space, Flinders University Professor Wei Zhang has also been looking at how to make this solution viable for almost a decade.
Dr Zhang says Australia needs a more sustainable and innovative marine bio industry. (Supplied: Flinders University)
“Fish can be processed into many different types of products, with collagen or gelatine only about 5 to 30 per cent of the animal,” he said.
The chief science advisor of the Marine Bioproducts Co-operative Research Centre said the other 70 per cent could be used for products like mineral and amino supplements.
“China is a major producer [of collagen] because they have a huge aquaculture and fisheries industry, and they have much more advanced technology for commercial production,” he said.
“The estimate of wild carp that could be harvested in Australia could be about one million tonnes but the biggest challenge is to harvest and process it at that scale.”
Fishers say harvest help needed
Tracy Hill manages Coorong Wild Seafood with her husband Glen at Meningie, selling their catch, including carp to restaurants and retailers.
Ms Hill says she has approached politicians about the idea of coordinated harvesting of carp. (ABC News: Leonie Thorne)
The couple have also actively lobbied government and industry to seek alternative solutions to use the pest, rather than releasing the carp herpes virus.
“In this state alone we’ve got several fishermen that would probably be interested in harvesting carp to produce high quality health products and help save the river system at the same time,” she said.
But Ms Hill said there are challenges that would need to be addressed before carp by-products could viably be used by the beauty and health industries.
“Every state has got its own rules and regulations around carp fishing, so it would be very hard to get three states with different departments to work together,” she said.
